


The Next Great Adventure

by Astre_Red



Series: to be forgiven [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26665015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astre_Red/pseuds/Astre_Red
Summary: Othello had never thought he would be forgiven. He just went on with his punishment and tried to make the best out of it. Obviously, someone disagreed.This is how it goes : Othello goes to sleep, and wakes up in a different body.
Series: to be forgiven [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940161
Comments: 10
Kudos: 120
Collections: Identity Crisis, Reincarnation and Transmigration





	The Next Great Adventure

Othello had never thought he would be forgiven.

It sounded strange to say it like that. After all, to be forgiven was every grim reaper's goal. It was why they collected souls, again and again, despite how tiring it was.

But Othello hadn't thought he'd be forgiven, had never wanted to. He didn't feel sorry, didn't feel like ending his suffering was a crime. What was so bad about it? He hadn't hurt anyone but himself, and it had been mercy. What he did and wanted for himself was no one's business but his.

Obviously, he knew that he would never be forgiven when he had that kind of thinking. It would be a lie to say that he was okay with it ; he was more resigned to this fate than anything.

So Othello never tried to be forgiven, he simply tried to make the best out of this “second chance”. He joined the forensics department, the one which gave the less opportunity to show how determined someone was to repent, but the one that Othello liked the most. There weren't a lot of people in it, and he was mostly left alone by his colleagues, who didn't really care about him but were still friendly. It was a great improvement from when he was human.

He was happy like this. He probably would have stayed like that for a long time if it wasn't for Whitey.

His betrayal didn't surprise Othello as much as his Bizarre Dolls did. Those creatures were fascinating, and he wanted to tear them apart and see exactly how they worked even though Grell had already explained it to him.

Othello didn't fight againt Undertaker. He talked and taunted his once friend and hid behind Grell, whining and afraid. He knew that he would not be forgiven even if he died, and he didn't want to know what happened to reapers who dared to regret nothing.

The fight went on and on, and Undertaker was defeated and disappeared again, the living twin reclaiming what his dead brother stole.

Many things happened afterwards, and Othello made a sort of unspoken truce with Whitey. Grell and Will and Ronald fought while he stayed behind, working in his lab to help defeat their opponent.

This is how it goes : Othello goes to sleep, and wakes up in a different body.

* * *

As much as he doesn't want to admit it, his first reaction is panic.

Everything is blurry, as if someone took away his glasses, and he can barely move, wrapped under layers of blankets. He feels small, and he has always been one of the shortest reapers but it's something else. He feels fragile.

He cries, and he hears someone whisper in his ear words of comfort.

His second reaction, once his cries stopped, is to analysis his situation. Besides everything he remarked, there's something else, deeper inside him, familiar and nostalgic in a way that makes him feel sick. It takes him a few minutes to understand.

_I feel alive._ He thinks, startled.

Reapers, for all they breathe and move and basically act like humans, don't feel alive. Their skins and blood are cold, and their hearts beat slowler than any human one.

Reapers are Death. They are cold.

Othello feels warm.

_I am alive_. He realizes, and doesn't know whether to cry or laugh.

* * *

It takes a few days for the shock to fade away. He doesn't understand why him of all the people has been forgiven. He knows reapers who deserved it far more than him.

His new name, he learns, is Harry Potter. Othello hates it, and decides that his original one is far better and less boring.

He's still english, which is a relief. Adaptation would have been harder if he wasn't. He would have succeeded, of course, because Othello is a genius, but that's one less thing he has to do.

He's also magical, which is a surprise.

Wizards were already a thing in his time, but they were more discreet, and hid far away from non-magical humans. But his parents -Lily and James Potter- are living in a non-magical town, and frankly obvious. Othello wonders how much time has passed since his rebirth.

His mother is beautiful, and her red hair and green eyes make him homesick of a friend he'll never see again. But that is the only thing Grell Sutcliff and Lily Potter share. Grell's smile was sharp and deadly even to her friends, and she didn't hesitate to hit where it hurt. Lily is a fighter as well, but she is not a murderer, too kind to even kill her ennemies, and Othello knows that she would not have lived long in his time, in his fight. He wonders how long she is going to live here.

For it doesn't take long to see they're at war.

It may be because Othello knows what war, or rather conflict, looks like, but the way his parents look apprehensive every time an owl -and really, doves were so much better and discreet, _wizards_ \- comes at the window was a huge hint. And how worried they look when one of them leaves and doesn't come back at the stated time. How they go out less and less.

So. Magic war. Othello can already tell that it is either going to be annoying or amazing.

_Well,_ he thinks with a sigh _, it can't be worse than Whitey's experiments._

He is wrong.

* * *

A man whose soul makes Othello wants to throw up comes. He breathes death and ravage so much than if he didn't know better, he would take him for a grim reaper. But this pathetic human is no reaper, and all Othello feels towards him is a disgust he never felt even for demons.

He hears his father's screams and his mother's pleads, and hates.

The green of death comes flashing towards him, so familiar that it almost makes him smile, and Othello closes his eyes.

_I didn't think this life would end so quickly._

* * *

He lives, wih nothing but a scar to show his near death experience.

He is taken to his blood relatives, who act so much like his old ones -the ones who pushed him over the edge- that it is almost laughable.

Othello breathes the cupboard's dusty oxygen, and swears hell on Albus Dumbledore.

He grows up, slowly, hands and heart steady even as his uncle yells until his face is purple. He stays silent, keeps his green eyes analysing everything until his aunt turns away, uneasy. His hair are as ruffled as when he was a reaper even though they are now a dark black, but his eyes are almost the same shade of green, and it comforts him.

He finds out with surprise that a century has passed since his time as reaper. He wonders if the others are still there, collecting souls. He wonders how they reacted at his sudden disappearance.

He hopes they're okay.

Othello lives. He and his stupid cousin go to school, and he flies through his studies so fast that it makes his teacher worry.

His relatives threaten him, tell him to stop his freakishness.

“How dare you cheating?!” Petunia yells once, after his teacher congratulated her on her nephew's brillance, “You make Dudders look bad!”

“He is bad.” Othello answers, smiling. “You just don't want to see it.”

He doesn't dodge the punch.

(He would have killed himself, maybe, had he not known what it would lead to. Curled in his cupboard at night, a part of him desperately wants to grab the knife he uses for breakfeast and shove it in his own heart. But would that be worth it? After all, if he has been forgiven, the others are probably in the same case.)

(That night, he cries, just a little.)

When he's six, with more scars he ever had when he was a reaper, he snaps at his aunt something that makes her face pale.

“Why didn't you tell me my parents were magical? It's stupid of you.” As many things are.

“Stop talking nonsense!” she hisses back, and he laughs coldly.

“You are stupid. You hide from the truth, like it can't catch up if you ignore it. But it will, even if you have to wait until death comes. It is that way for all humans.”

Her face is white. She leaves him alone in the kitchen, and never hits him again.

He's seven when he sneaks out and sees a reaper leaving his neighbor's house. The old lady was ill for a long time, and Othello was waiting to see if he could still watch his old colleagues.

The reaper doesn't see him, but it doesn't matter. He doesn't know him anyway.

It's when he's eight that something happens.

His relatives go to London and reluctantly bring him along, not trusting him with their house as if an eight years old and malnourished boy could demolish the house -well, Othello could if he tried hard enough, but they didn't know that- so they leave him on the parking of the museum, forbidding him to venture away.

He's running as soon they're out of sight.

He doesn't intend to run away, he has no illusion and knows he wouldn't last long in the streets. He's also pretty sure that this old and stupid director would come to get him, and while Othello cannot wait to pay him back for his treatment, it's not yet time.

He doesn't really know where he's going, and just follows his instincts. His feet hurt when he stops, unsure where he is. He looks at the sign, and knocks, not really expecting the door to open.

A scarred face peers down at him, and shock passes through the green eyes before a dark and amused smile appears.

“My, what a surprise.” the Undertaker says, “You're even shorter than before, Othello!”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it ! This series is going to be about different reapers reborn in different worlds, not necessarily Harry Potter's. So if you have any idea as to who can be reborn into who, go ahead ! I'd love to read your comments on the subject. Thank you for reading !


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